Friend: Any plans for this evening?

Me: There’s a new yoga studio nearby, I thought of going to their beginners’ class at seven.

Friend: Excellent plan. Coming with. See you later.

Me and friend at her place 6pm the same evening:

Friend: So what time was this class again?

Me: It’s at seven, but when I walked past the place earlier today, it looked like they’d shut down.

Friend: Should we check? (checks on her mobile)

Me: I guess they have classes tomorrow. 

Friend: They have the seven pm class now, but they also have classes tomorrow.

Me: I could go tomorrow as well, it’s not like I have to go now. Plus I got a strange vibe because their door was closed earlier.

Friend: Yes that’s totally strange. Anyway. I’ll check whether we have any red wine here.

Several hours later:

Me, to myself: Whoever said one must always wash off makeup before going to bed knows nothing!!! I could totally do it, I just don’t care!! 

* falls to bed * 

I traveled to Helsinki to rest, exercise and meet friends for a couple of days. It seems I managed all three in one highly efficient evening. 

Fully acknowledging that this topic might only really interest me, I’ve been on the lookout for good probiotics for a while now. It’s a huge market which I find overwhelming to navigate (I learned through trial and error the difference between probiotics and prebiotics…).  I got me some new probiotics in Helsinki to try, in the picture, as well as caplets that contain hyaluronic acid and collagen (not for my digestion but for the face). I watched a Caroline Hirons video about her summer empties and she introduced a hyaluronic acid-containing product she’s been happy with. Mine is not the same brand, but I am curious to see whether hyaluronic acid taken internally will have visible effects. So far it’s been serums only for me.

When I read the small print on the bottles, I paid attention to the reformulation of the “health promises” from the olden days. There used to be so much talk about false claims on (especially) natural products, where promises were made to deliver all kinds of miracles, that the dear old regulators had to intervene. Thus what the consumer is promised these days is merely “the upkeep of normal levels” of whatever it is one is taking in pill-form. Definite progress if you ask me.

Despite the rather patchy start to exercising this week, I have been walking a lot (thus the trainers are not merely for decorative purpose). It is a rare luxury to be able to walk along the seaside all the while being comfortably in a city. I have also been able to reunite with my all time favourite pastry, which is a croissant with baked in blue cheese (this is an important detail, because it distinguishes this croissant from those that are cut lengthwise and slices of cheese and ham are shoved inside). I understand this to be a bastardisation of a perfectly good breakfast staple and I also understand this to be an acquired taste (if only because I’ve never seen it sold anywhere else), but it makes me get up inappropriately early on a holiday just to ensure I manage to get one before they sell out. Also to be noted: I consider this pastry a gluten free product. For many reasons (I’ll leave out the unproven health claims).